Goldman's and Citigroup's results, while better than expected, fell short of the lofty standard set by JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday. That company's results far exceeded expectations and drove major indexes to 2009 highs, with the Dow Jones industrial average breaking above 10,000 for the first time in a year.

Goldman's earnings nearly quadrupled, largely due to strong trading results. Citigroup's third-quarter loss was narrower than expected, but the company took $8 billion in credit losses.

JPMorgan's results raised the bar for expectations and that spread to a number of financials, said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments in Richmond, Virginia.

The market was looking for strong results and it got that and more, but it decided to sell on the good news at Goldman.

Goldman shares fell 2.1 percent to $188.40 while Citigroup shed 5.4 percent to $4.74. The KBW Banks index lost 1.6 percent while the S&P Financial index was the top percentage decliner among S&P sectors, down 1.4 percent.

Crude oil rose 2.7 percent to $77.19 per barrel, erasing early losses after data from the Energy Information Administration showed gasoline and distillate inventories fell sharply in the last week.